I arrive at my next location mid-afternoon and all I want to do is be thankful that I was able to drive the hour from the airport safely and then crash in the comfy hotel bed. Hard. And sleep for days.

However, one problem…it’s a running day. I have a headache from sleep deprivation. I have no energy. The very last thing I want to do on the planet is run. I am flat out exhausted. But the hotel has a nice gym, and I know this may be my last chance to get in a good workout for a few days. My next location is an unknown quantity for the most part, but I’m pretty sure there’s no gym.

So I tell myself that it’s not a sleep deprivation headache, it’s an altitude headache. I use one of the bottles of water in the room and mix it with the one random pack of Vega One that I found in the bottom of my backpack, since I haven’t had a chance to eat either. (I always pack Vega One and Vega Recovery, but this time they’re still in the kitchen next to the forgotten energy bars. I’m grateful for that forgotten emergency pack.)

Then I go down to the gym and I run through the discomfort and exhaustion and pain. By the time the run is over, I feel SO much better! I don’t even want to sleep. I’m energized and my headache is gone. I am amazed. It strikes me that this is what I’m really training for – I can’t actually train for altitude, nobody who lives at sea level can. What I can do is train myself to keep going through the hard parts. I can teach myself to get up when I’m exhausted and when I hurt and when I haven’t eaten or slept. I know from my trip to Peru that those things will happen on the trek, just as they happen in my real life. If I can’t handle them now, how will I handle them later?

So I ran.

The Gear

I think I’m in love. When I ran today, I tried out one of my new GoLite running shirts. Oh. My. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but the fabric is super, duper soft and comfy – and there’s the perfect little hidden key pocket on the side. That was a surprise to me, as I hadn’t noticed it in the store. And guess what? It’s exactly the right size for a hotel room key. Score!!!

I want one of everything they sell. Seriously. This shirt is that good.